1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display module. More particularly, the present invention relates to a display module having an improved heatsink effect.
2. Description of the Related Art
A display module is a key component of a display device. A display module may include a display panel, a driving circuit unit for driving the display panel, and a chassis for supporting the driving circuit and the display panel. The display panel may be a plasma display panel (PDP).
The PDP may include a first panel and a second panel. The chassis may have a convex member for reinforcing the rigidity thereof. The driving circuit unit may have signal transmitting units and a circuit for generating electrical signals to drive the PDP.
The driving circuit unit may have circuit elements disposed thereon. A large amount of heat may be generated by a heat emissive circuit element during the operation of the plasma display module. This generated heat may degrade the heat emissive circuit unit and the performance of the driving circuit unit if it is not dissipated away from the heat emissive circuit element. Therefore, the heat emissive circuit element may be mounted with a heatsink or a heatsink plate for dissipating the generated heat outside.
Such heat emissive circuit elements may include monolithic integrated circuit (MIC) elements and intelligent power module (IPM) elements. The MIC element may include a conductive layer of a given pattern and a semiconductor chip mounted on the conductive layer. The IPM element may include a conductive layer of a given pattern, an active element, e.g., a semiconductor chip, and a passive element, e.g., a resistor and a condenser, mounted on the conductive layer. Due to its additional components, the IPM element may have larger heat emission area and may emit a larger amount of heat than the MIC element.
Accordingly, in a conventional display module, a thermal conductive medium may be disposed on an IPM element and a first heatsink plate may be disposed on the thermal conductive medium and connected to a second heatsink plate disposed on a chassis via a screw, so that heat generated by the IPM element may be transmitted to the thermal conductive medium, the first heatsink plate, the screw, the second heatsink plate and the chassis to thereby dissipate the generated heat to the outside.
The second heatsink plate may not be closely connected to the chassis due to process tolerance. Accordingly, the thermal conductive medium disposed between the IPM element and the first heatsink plate must be thick so as to closely connect the second heatsink plate to the chassis. However, the use of the thick thermal conductive medium greatly reduces the heatsink effect on the IPM element because the medium has a very low heat conductivity, e.g., compared with metal.